Sidney M. Cohen has been getting recognition for his work as the director of Inside The Box on TVtropolis as well as the producer and director of TV Ontario's Reach For The Top, but for those of us who are old enough to remember the '80s, it's a little game show called The Mad Dash that stands out as his most unique work.
The Beginning
What made The Mad Dash truly unique was that it was a essentially a life-sized game board. Two pairs of contestants would compete against each other, one person in each team would answer questions while the other would move on the game board like a human pawn.
Cohen spoke to Suite101.com about how he came up with the idea, wanting something that would allow people get out from behind the podium.
"I was just trying to come with something that was a little different than Definition or Headline Hunters, things that were on Canadian TV at the time," said Cohen. "So I decided to sit and doodle a few ideas...I just started drawing this board on my desk and it just kind of took on a life of its own."
Then the idea was pitched to the CTV Director of Entertainment Programming, Arthur Weinthal.
From Montreal to Toronto
"I used to make regular runs to plead my case for various projects to Toronto on my own. When [Weinthal] saw this particular show, his reaction was that it was a better idea than most ideas he's seen and maybe [we] should have a go at it.
At the time, Cohen was already producing another CTV game show at the network's Montreal affiliate, CFCF-TV, called It's Your Move. The staff on that show pulled double duty in helping him create the pilot for this new show.
Some of the photos below are from that original pilot. Fans may notice that the set looks a little odd because unlike other TV pilots, this one was never actually broadcast. This is because Cohen had to, as he puts it, "kind of experiment with literally no money." He even made himself the host. But Cohen got the green light from CTV, changes were made, well-known Quebec personality Pierre Lalonde became the star, and the rest is history.
The show is now getting some recognition in terms syndication. Not only has the concept been sold to Poland but reruns of the original Montreal produced game show have also resurfaced on an obscure cable channel known as Game TV, complete with cheesy 1978 styles and leisure suits. Cohen even admits to being shocked to discover clips of the show on YouTube.
Most Episodes Destroyed
The recent revival of this blast from the past comes with one major limitation. Most of the approximately 400 original episodes have been destroyed. That is why only 16 or so are currently in reruns on Game TV, according to Cohen.
"I know, I turn it on and I go oh it's that one again," he said. "Even the ones on Game TV, I kind of recycled from second and third generation copies."
The lost episodes also translated into lost opportunity during the mid-90s.
"I remember I had a call from a client or a distributer who wanted to take the whole run of the series and play it England and I was actually going to make some nice money from it and CFCF had told me that they had just just disposed of most of the tapes and I went 'Oh!' that was bad."
Why did this happen? Shows from the the '70s and '80s took up a lot of storage space because they were recorded on 2 inch tapes, the type of thing you would see in museums today. Besides, who would have thought that there would be a demand for Canadian game show reruns.
"No one ever thought in a million years that shows were going to come back in any kind of revival," he said. "Today, Ed Sullivan is running on PBS, I mean everything is being recycled and unfortunately the folks at CFCF didn't have the crystal ball to know that these things would be worth anything."
Duety do Mety (The Mad Dash in Poland)
The shows has regained some new life thanks to countries like Poland buying the concept and making domestic versions of their own. But even then, there have been obstacles.
"We ran into a behemoth. Just as we were really starting to get legs, we were going to be in about seven different countries [when] along came Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? It was a completely different kind of a show than what we had and everybody who was just about to go forward with our project went on that juggernaut."
There was some renewed interest in the show later and it did eventually get picked up by a number countries. However, Cohen said that Poland was the only place that really took it to another level as far as making the show look good.
Does Cohen enjoy working in the television industry?
"Ah, I would have rather, now maybe looking back on it, been a brain surgeon or something," he said with laughter. "But being a TV producer got me to a lot places and I've met a lot of fascinating people... I have no regrets except tell your kids to be dentists."
Too late. His daughter, Tracy Cohen, is also in the industry and has helped to bring us shows such as Kenny vs. Spenny. In spite of a little cynicism, he continues to work in television and he clearly has a passion for it. As he puts it, "you gotta do what you gotta do in life."
When and Where?
The Mad Dash can be seen on Game TV, Tuesday at 8 PM ET and Fridays at 7 PM ET. Check the official web site for channel numbers and other information.
Resources:
Personal phone interview with Sidney M. Cohen
The Mad Dash official website
Sidney M. Cohen's website
Super People Productions' website
Steve Hatton - Steve Hatton is a Montreal-based freelance writer and journalist who covers the television industry, including TV show reviews and media ...
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